Man Sentenced For Killing Store Owner

May 09, 1998|By THOMAS D. WILLIAMS; Courant Staff Writer

HARTFORD — No one in the Hartford courtroom concerned with the 1994 street slaying of a city grocer was happy Friday.

The killer, Lloyd Higgins, said nothing during his sentencing to 20 years in prison for manslaughter while his mother, father and girlfriend watched. They thought Higgins, who said he killed the grocer in self- defense, was getting too much time behind bars.

Two aunts and a sister of the 30-year-old grocery store owner, Roger Anderson, thought Higgins was getting off easy. Marcia Anderson, the dead man's sister, wanted to give Higgins something to ponder when he went off to prison.

``I just wanted to remind Mr. Higgins that he took my brother's life, and ever since then, my family, we've been grieving,'' she said. ``You've caused my family a lot of pain and a lot of grief.''

Before standing up to speak, Anderson had been sitting two rows in front of Higgins' immediate family and girlfriend. At one point, after some murmurs developed in that portion of the spectators' section, a deputy sheriff and a state inspector moved to sit down between the two families.

Neither Higgins nor his family said anything on his behalf.

Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford sentenced Higgins, of 19 Brookline Ave., Bloomfield, on a manslaughter count after a plea agreement was reached between the prosecutor and the defense lawyer. The deal resulted in the dropping of a more serious murder count and in the state recommending a 20-year prison term.

Higgins was arrested in October 1996 for the April 1, 1994, shooting of Anderson outside of his Albany Avenue grocery store. A second man charged in connection with the shooting, O'Neil Johnson, 24, whose last known address was in New Rochelle, N.Y., is awaiting trial.

Higgins was one of three men who began beating Garfield Pusey, 21, with their fists and revolvers outside Anderson's business, One Variety Store at 1015 Albany Ave. Pusey, a friend of Anderson's, had been stocking shelves inside, before he went outside and was confronted by Higgins and two other men. Pusey was able to free himself, get back inside the store and hide.

Soon, Anderson, armed with a long-barreled revolver, went outside and began arguing with Higgins about a burglary he believed Higgins had committed at his store weeks earlier. A cell phone was taken during the break-in.

Before Anderson could use his revolver, Higgins shot Anderson in the shoulder and ran off.

Then, one witness heard someone say, ``You already shot him; you might as well kill him.'' Higgins then returned to the spot where Anderson was lying and fired four shots into his body.